'Nother Wreck On The Beach

Captain Blair Perkins alerted me to a wreck he saw on the beach at Moneymoy today. She was moored off the second pier all winter. We'll see how long she stays there at Monemoy littering the beach. My guess is that the owner is long gone and will not clean up his mess.

Blair also noticed that the Sargent sustained more damage over this past storm. Her house and topsides are all gone now.

Here's what the Sargent looked like at the end of this past January-

This boat has been an extreme hazard to navigation for over three years now. Perhaps it will take someone getting killed to get this wreck removed.

The Cricks down by Sayle's Seafood is always a good place to bird watch if you are into that kind of thing. Today I spotted a Great White Egret hunting for it's meal along the edge of the marsh.


I went out to Sankaty this afternoon to survey the damage to the new man-made bluff project from yesterdays storm. It wasn't too bad. Minimal damage but we never got the strong ENE winds that were predicted. There were several laborers there today filling long coir bags with sand and then sewing them up. These bags are huge and very long. Can you imagine the hazard to navigation these bags will pose when they get washed out to sea during the next storm? I am getting reports from people that several coir bags from the first man-made bluff project at Sankaty are still being washed up and littering our beaches. What a mess. And a damn shame, too.

Any Erosion At Sankaty Today?/New Boat Ramp Concern

Anyone been out to the bluff at Sankaty today? Was there any damage to the newest man-made bluff project they are working on out there? I'll go out tomorrow and survey any damage from this storm.


New problem at the Children's Beach boat ramp. I was down there this morning and noticed a load of gravel that had washed up from the lower portion of the ramp up to the blacktop portion of the ramp. This happened overnight during a very minor northeast wind.

New Boat Ramp Woes

While I was down at the new Children's Beach boat ramp this morning, two officials from the DPW arrived and took measurements. I guess the Town is receiving a lot of complaints from boaters that the ramp is not working. One of the officials told me that the pitch of the ramp is 10% from his calculations. I am not sure what is going to be done if anything in the future to correct this problem at the ramp. here's another shot of them taking measurements-


Captain Blair brought his boat, Shearwater back from the yard at Providence, RI yesterday. He told me he had a wild ride. He said there were 12' seas off Block Island.


Anyone know what these two brand new machines are? I spotted them at the parking lot at Hoicks Hollow late today. I'm thinking they have something to do with the 'Sconset beach preservation project.

Here's the logo on the side of the machines-

Click on the picture of Brant Point Light Below-

Nantucket Waterfront News

F/V Donna Marie

If you're into fishing boats, there is a little sea scalloper that can be seen down around the docks. Her name is Donna Marie. She's an old wooden Novi. Her homeport is Gloucester, MA but she spends a lot of time here at Nantucket. She usually ties up at the end of the Town Pier but recently she's been seen laying at the fuel dock at the Boat Basin.

Here's a shot of her cutting house complete with a fancy fluorescent light-



A raft of Eider Ducks seen off Sankaty today. I have never seen these ducks here so late before. I thought they would be on their way up north to breed by now. it looks as though the males in the picture are molting. Or could there be another specie of duck mixed in?
By the way, when I shot the above picture today, I noticed several coir bags littering the beach between Sankaty and Codfish Park. God help the poor boater who gets one of these coir bags wrapped up in his propellor.

What Is Going On Here?

I was down at the Children's Beach boat ramp late today and noticed a serious problem. About half way down the ramp, there was a pile of gravel and a 15'' deep hole between two of the slabs of concrete. Here's a picture of the hole. It's kind of hard to see. Click on the pictures to enlarge.


Does anyone know what is causing this? Discuss.

West Wind

There's a new boat to join the commercial striped bass fishing fleet this summer. Captain Bob Rank splashed his boat, "West Wind" this morning. She's a 25' Downeaster boat powered by a 225 horsepower four stroke Yamaha outboard engine. Bob used to fish out of a smaller Aquasport boat also named the West Wind. Here's a picture of that boat while I was down off Sankaty back in 2001 commercial bass fishing. I came upon Bob in the thick fog fighting a big bass-


Bob has been fishing for bass commercially every summer for I'd say over thirty years now. He started out in Madaket fishing out of a B boat. He's got his new boat set up nicely with a wheelhouse he adapted to the boat himself. Here are a few more pictures of the West Wind-